Fillydelphia Branch of the Equestrian Institute for the Mentally Ill
8 Years Since the Great Ponyville Blizzard
One Day to Hearth’s Warming Eve
As many times as she’d come to visit, Diamond Tiara knew that she would never get used to the sight before her now.
Eight years ago, the mare in front of her was among the strongest she’d ever known. Her able body hid an analytical mind and the most caring of hearts. The blood that ran through her veins was the blood of her very community. She had always been the first to laugh, the first to cry, the first to find out if anypony needed help.
For a time, this mare had been her greatest enemy… and then her most loyal of friends.
But now? Now she was a shell.
Applebloom’s dull eyes remained focused on the checkers board in front of her. Occasionally, a bit of drool would escape her slack mouth. Her yellow-coated body was thin, her eyes sunken into their sockets. Her mane, once a fiery red, was now the color of fresh fallen snow.
The snow that still covered…
Diamond Tiara shook her head to chase away the thought and decided to make some small talk while she waited for the thoroughly medicated earth pony across from her to make her move. They were alone in the visitor’s room, one of the perks that came with the generous donations she’d made to the Institute since Applebloom had been placed there by royal edict. “So, do you wanna hear something cool?”
Applebloom grunted quietly, showing a thankful Diamond Tiara that she was at least actually listening.
“I was in the library the other day doing research for that history class I’m taking when I stumbled on a name that looked kind of familiar; Snowfall Frost. You know, the character from ‘a Hearth’s Warming Tail?’ Well, it turns out that she was a real pony. But that’s not the cool part.”
Applebloom’s eyes flicked to hers for just a moment before falling back to the board. The small movement must have taken quite a bit of effort.
“It turns out that the real Snowfall Frost was actually my ancestor! How neat is that?”
Applebloom grunted again, lapping up a bit of drool before it could fall.
“It looks like the Frosts married into our cousins, the Banks Family, in Trottingham over a hundred years ago. I’m actually using this holiday break as a chance to go to Trottingham and do some more research. I’ve never actually met my Trottingham cousins, so it’s a little exciting.”
Applebloom slowly raised a hoof, pushed one of her black checkers forward a space, then let the hoof fall once again.
Diamond Tiara considered whether or not to relay the next piece of information. “Uh… Sweetie Belle and Button Mash are coming with me.”
Applebloom didn’t move.
“Sweetie Belle wanted to come see you, but she had this really tough final a few days ago and Button took her out to dinner instead before our train leaves tonight.” She shrugged. “She said she’d come next time.”
Applebloom grunted.
“I know she said that last time, too.” Diamond Tiara sighed. “You know she still cares about you, right? We all do.” The pink mare cast an eye back at the door and leaned in close. Her muzzle wrinkled when she caught the stale odor of the other mare. “You don’t… hate us, do you?”
Applebloom’s eyes slowly rose from the board and focused on Diamond Tiara’s.
“I know you have your reasons for not going along with what Princess Celestia said, but you have to understand why she covered it up, right? Can you imagine how Equestria would react if they knew an entire town had been…” She swallowed hard. She hadn’t used her next word in a very long time. “…snatched… by an ancient monster? There’d be chaos in the streets of every city.”
Applebloom just kept staring.
“The best thing for everypony is that we forget he even exists. Maybe that will keep him from ever coming back.” Diamond Tiara reached a hoof across the table and brushed a bit of white mane back into place. “I know Applejack would appreciate your faithfulness to good old fashioned Apple honesty, but do you really think she’d want you locked up in a place like…”
Applebloom’s hoof, raised so slowly that the other mare hadn’t even detected it, swept across the table. The checkers and their board went flying, raining on the floor in a sudden explosion of sound.
Diamond Tiara yelped in surprise. When her eyes focused back on Applebloom’s she found the dullness had faded away.
There was anger in those eyes, tensed and building.
“I’m sorry.” Diamond Tiara bowed her head in supplication. “I know it’s not my place to talk about her.” She looked back up, tears pooling in her eyes. “She died saving my life too, remember?”
The anger in Applebloom’s eyes faded somewhat.
The door to the room swung open and an orderly, a turquoise stallion with a red crew-cut, poked his head in. “Is everything alright in here?”
“Everything’s fine.” Diamond Tiara waved a hoof. “I’ve just got butter-hooves I guess.”
He frowned but nodded. “Snow’s starting to come down pretty hard out there, Miss Tiara. You might want to wrap this up.”
Diamond Tiara nodded and sighed once the door shut once again. “I guess I need to get out of here. I don’t want to risk the train to Trottingham leaving without me.” She stood, walked around the table, and hugged the other earth pony close. “For what it’s worth, ‘Bloom? Happy Hearth’s Warming. I’ll see you next year.”
Applebloom did not return the embrace, exactly, but she did slump forward into the other mare’s embrace.
Diamond Tiara pulled away and started for the door.
“…ood.”
Diamond Tiara stopped and turned back at the sound of the familiar drawl. “What?”
Applebloom didn’t turn her head, but she did raise her voice. The words were dull, plainly spoken. The purpose behind them was unknown. “…Be good.”
Diamond Tiara shivered, the words taking her back to a night long past. Two simple words broke through thousands of bit’s worth of therapy.
Suddenly, she was a filly again. She was watching as a mare she barely knew willingly gave her own life for hers. She was watching as the mare was drawn towards an enormous , swirling sack… and a monstrous, cloaked figure stalked towards her, eyes blazing red from beneath a hood as black as the night…
“Miss Tiara?”
She was back in the Institution. She shook off the flashback and hurried from the room. The head doctor was waiting for her, her scarf held aloft in his magic. She glared at him. “Do you really need to dope her up so much?”
“This time of year?” The doctor raised an eyebrow. “Absolutely.”
Diamond Tiara huffily snatched her scarf from his magical hold and tossed it around her neck. “For the amount I’m paying for her treatment, I expect a little progress every once and a while.”
“Your patronage of Miss Apple is most appreciated, Miss Tiara, but I feel I must remind you.” The doctor adjusted his glasses. “The patient must be willing to meet us half-way. We cannot help somepony who does not want to be helped.”
Diamond Tiara looked back at the door. “Does she need anything?”
“Your continued friendship is the best thing for her now.” The doctor bowed his head. “Until your next visit, Miss Tiara. I wish you a safe and happy Hearth’s Warming.”
“You too.” Diamond Tiara returned the bow and made for the exit.
“Miss Tiara?”
The mare paused and looked back. “Yes?”
“Miss Apple said something to you just before you walked out. What was it?”
Diamond Tiara chewed the inside of her cheek for a moment before she answered. “She told me to ‘be good.’”
The doctor looked at her with curious eyes. “Interesting choice of words. Do they have any significance?”
“Yes.” Diamond Tiara’s eyes fell. “They were her sister’s last words to her before she died.”
“In the blizzard?”
Red eyes blazing beneath a hood… enormous black horns curving up into…
“Yes. In the blizzard.” Diamond Tiara headed for the exit. “Happy Hearth’s Warming.”
The doctor and the orderly watched her leave. The doctor turned to the other stallion. “Return Miss Apple to her room immediately. And activate the new security protocols. I don’t want a repeat of last year.”
The orderly nodded. “Want me to double her sleep meds?”
The doctor considered before shaking his head. “Triple them. I’m taking no chances this year.”
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Fillydelphia Train Station
Button Mash stared at the shining object. It lay within a bed of red velvet, encased in a box of oak. Its heart was centuries old, only recently pulled from the earth and set within its new home.
Now, its long journey was nearly over.
“Button? What’s that?”
The young stallion blanched at the sound of his marefriend’s voice appearing amidst the hustle and bustle of the Fillydelphia Train Station and snapped the box closed. He spun to face the white unicorn, subtly slipping the container into his saddlebags. “Nothing, honey-bun. Just messing around on the Joy Boy.”
Sweetie Belle raised one elegant eyebrow, ignoring the stares from stallions that passed by her. “But I have your Joy Boy in my bags. You let me borrow it for the train ride.”
Button Mash’s eye twitched. “Yup. Yes I did. Did I say Joy Boy? I meant my…”
“Button, you know you can just say that it’s my Hearth’s Warming gift and I’ll let it go.”
Button Mash exhaled dramatically. “You caught me.”
The stunning young mare giggled and kissed his cheek. “All these years, and you’re still the clueless little nerd I fell in love with.”
“Would you have me any other way?” He kissed her cheek.
“Never in a million years.”
They kissed, paying no mind to the harried and hassled ponies that walked around them.
Sweetie Belle pulled away and looked around the station. “I wonder where Di is. We can’t miss this train.”
Button looked out one of the station’s massive windows at the raging flurries of snow. “Maybe she got caught in traffic.”
“Like you wouldn’t believe.”
The two ponies turned to see Diamond Tiara pushing through the crowd towards them. She embraced them each in turn before waving them towards the platform. “Come on. I don’t know how long they’re going to hold our cars.”
“Cars? As in plural?” Sweetie Belle hurried after the heiress. “You got us each a whole car for the trip?”
“Psh, as if!” Diamond Tiara winked back at the unicorn. “I only booked the two. One for me and one for you two.”
“Score.” Button Mash cheered under his breath.
“Hush… Drake the Daring.” Sweetie Belle chided her coltfriend with his pet name to let him know she was thinking the same thing.
“As my Scarlet Avenger wishes.”
“Ugh, you two make me sick sometimes.” Diamond Tiara’s faux revulsion act was ruined somewhat by her good-natured smile.
As the crowds began to thin the closer they got to the departure platform, several pop-up shops and magazine sellers took their place. Salesponies hawked the latest tabloids and gossip rags. More respectable shops offered hot off-the-presses papers from across the width of Equestria.
One headline in particular caught Button Mash’s eye;
EIGHT YEARS ON, AND STILL NO ANSWERS
Button’s eyes misted over as he took in the picture below the headline; the still frozen remains of Ponyville. The majority of the town was still covered in an enormous blanket of white. Only the roofs of the tallest buildings still remained above the frozen sea. Small dots covered the white landscape, the entrances of tunnels that investigators had dug to search for answers or survivors.
In eight years, nopony had been able to find either.
He was a colt again. The air was freezing. The roof caved in. An enormous beast loomed over him, smiling with a mouth full of dagger sharp teeth. Every move it made was accompanied by the jingling of hellish bells…
“Button? Are you coming, honey?”
Sweetie Belle’s voice pulled him from the maelstrom of memories just as it had for so many years now. Before the past had a chance to snatch him back, he reached into his saddle-bag, yanked out his trusty flask, and took a long pull of its bitter contents. He smiled at his marefriend as mischievously as he was able. “Not yet… but wait. We haven’t settled into our car yet.”
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes at the comment. She forced a smile as Button put the flask he’d gotten from one of his friends for his last birthday back into his saddlebags. She loved her stallion, really, but he did tend to go to the hard stuff more often these days. She wondered if it was her, if she was the reason for his increased dependence on…
No. She couldn’t let thoughts like that take hold in her mind anymore. Her therapist had explained on several occasions that these particular hang-ups were remainders of the guilt she still felt from the deaths of her family. She hated that she had to constantly remind herself; Mom, Dad, and Rarity’s deaths had not been her fault. It was one of the reasons why it was so hard to go see Applebloom these days. There was a piece of her that still blamed herself for what had happened…
No, she reminded herself quickly. What had happened to them was not her fault. They were all lost in a simple, random, and violent act of nature.
No one was to blame.
But that wasn’t exactly true, was it?
An enormous ram, his eyes blazing red in the darkness. A cold, bitter wind, tearing at her coat even as it carried her down the hallway, carried her towards the razor sharp icicles sticking out of the wall…
Button Mash was in front of her. “You okay?”
She kissed him without a second thought, letting the warmth and the taste of him chase the memories back inside her. “I’m great. Let’s get going.”
As though in response, the Trottingham Express blasted its horn. The attendant called out for final boarding.
There was no turning back now.
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
“Pence? Is it ready?”
Pence Banks looked up from his desk to find his twin sister watching him intently. He smiled at her. “Just about, Penny. Come and have a look-see.”
The earth-pony filly ran up eagerly, her new Hearth’s Warming dress billowing around her tiny frame. “Lemme see! Lemme see!”
Pence grinned and slid the paper over so she could clearly read it.
“’Dear Santa Hooves.’” She started. “’My sister Penny and I have been very good this year. We would like it very much if you could give us a new wagon for me and a new dollie for her. We would be ever so grateful. Love, Pence and Penny Banks.’” Penny’s azure eyes caught another line, written much smaller at the very bottom. “What’s that last bit?”
Pence snatched the paper back and folded the letter up. “That’s something else I asked Santa Hooves for.”
“No fair!” Penny pouted. “Mother said that we could only ask for one gift apiece.”
“It’s not for me, you ninny.” Pence put a reverent hoof on the letter. “It’s for Mother and Father.”
“What did you ask for?”
“I’ll tell you when you’re older.”
Penny gaped at him, offended. “You’re only four minutes older than me!”
“Still counts!” Pence blew a raspberry then ran off giggling as she have chase.
After a rousing game of tag, the two little ponies stretched out on Pence’s rug and stared at the ceiling. “Do you think she’ll like us?” Penny asked.
“Who?”
“Cousin Diamond Tiara. Do you think she and her friends will like us?”
“How could they not?” He stretched, feeling like an afternoon nap. “We’re adorable, me and you.”
Penny looked out the window, looked at the snow blowing by. “It feels strange. We’ve never had a big family Hearth’s Warming before.”
“I know. But I’ve got a special feeling about this year.” Pence looked over at his desk. “I think this just might be the best Hearth’s Warming ever.”
In the next Snowfall journal entry, she arrives in the Frozen North and seeks a guide to Tambelon. She meets a donkey named Bray who offers to lead her there.
Diamond Tiara, Sweetie Belle, and Button Mash arrive in Trottingham and at the home of the Banks Family. Pence and Penny are thrilled with the visitors but their parents and cold an unresponsive, even refusing to divulge their names. The trio are instructed to only address them as Mister and Missus Banks.
Button, while searching for Mr. Banks’ liquor stores to replenish his flask, is met by Diamond Tiara in the kitchen. It’s here that we learn Button and Diamond Tiara’s secret; earlier in the year, the two had a one night stand due to Button’s drunkenness and Diamond Tiara’s heat cycle. Button reminds Diamond Tiara that they promised never to talk about it. They part awkwardly, each terrified that the other will tell Sweetie Belle.
Pence sees his parents fighting about the guests and hears how poor the family has become due to the bit crisis. He hides the information from Penny and doesn’t notice when she steals the letter to Santa Hooves.
As the family and guests sit around the fire, Sweetie Belle is drawn into an argument with Mr. Banks after he cruelly mocks Pence’s belief in Santa Hooves, telling him he needs to “grow up.” Pence talks back to his father. A drunken Button Mash stumbles in and says that the kids would respect their parents more if they knew about Grogar. As a horrified Diamond Tiara and Sweetie Belle look on, he tells the ram’s legend as Granny Smith told it to him. Pence and Penny are horrified and Mr. Banks demands the trio leave at once. While Diamond Tiara tries to reason with her cousin, Penny gives the letter to her mother. Pence watches in shock as his mother reads it, including the note at the bottom wishing that Santa Hooves can make their family happy again. Mr. Banks scoffs at the very idea and flatly tells Penny that there is no Santa Hooves. Furious at his father, Pence snatches the letter back and destroys it, ranting and crying about how excited he was to finally have a big family Hearth’s Warming but his dreams have been ruined. The blizzard outside gets worse and the trios shares a look. Sweetie Belle desperately tries to calm Pence but he finally declares his hatred of Hearth’s Warming. A resounding THUD comes from the roof and the fire dies. Before anyone can react, chains shoot down the chimney and grab Mr. Banks. Before he can be snatched away, Mrs. Banks grabs him and tries to pull him back. Instead, she gets pulled out with him. Panic descends on the five remaining ponies.
In Fillydelphia, 12 hours earlier, the doctor discovers that Applebloom has escaped. What’s more, he finds a hidden mural of Grogar on the wall formed from the repeated phrase ‘For Goodness Sake.’
In the third entry from Snowfall’s journal, she has been searching for Tambelon with Bray for several weeks. One night, she wakes up to find Bray in the midst of an arcane ritual. When he sees her watching, attacks but is easily subdued. When pressed, he claims to serve the Lord of Tambelon, the Master of the Windigos. He runs and leaps off a cliff, claiming that the wind will save him. It doesn’t. Shaken, Snowfall continues on alone.
Back in Trottingam, the upstairs windows shatter. The trio realize that Grogar is taking no chances this time and has brought helpers. The helpers are the children Grogar has snatched over the years. The trio and the two foals barricade themselves in the kitchen with the helpers attacking from all sides. Pence collects his wits enough to reveal the dumbwaiter that leads to the second floor. Pence and Penny are ushered up by Diamond Tiara. Before she follows, she and Mash blurt out their secret at the same moment. Sweetie Belle admonishes them both that it isn’t the time and she’ll be angry later. Diamond Tiara follows her cousins up. Button sees the helpers breaking down the door and closes the dumbwaiter door behind Sweetie Belle. The helpers break through and swarm Button, eventually overwhelming him. They chain him and drag him up the chimney to his fate.
The four remaining ponies huddle upstairs and are horrified when another pony appears from the snow. It is Applebloom.
In the final entry from Snowfall’s journal, she explains that she found Tambelon but was beset by Windigos. Desperate to save herself, she opens a sealed door in the center of the ancient city and barricades herself inside. As she climbs the great tower, she sees a huge mural detailing the legend of Grogar. He was a sorcerer who sacrificed the rams of Tambelon to become immortal. His cold heart transformed him into a beast of his former self and it was only the Princesses that were able to seal him away in another world before he could seize Equestria. At the top of the tower, Snowfall finds a huge bell inscribed with the phrase ‘For Goodness Sake.’ Unable to stop herself, Snowfall rings the bell. She remembers nothing of what happened next, only that she awoke far from the city with a much smaller bell in her possession. She declares that she must inform Equestria of the monster before he can return.
Applebloom surprises the others by declaring she knows how to stop Grogar. She boldly leads them back downstairs to the fireplace. When Diamond Tiara presses her, Applebloom finally declares that she knows why Applejack’s sacrifice didn’t work; it has to be an equal exchange. She says that now that Grogar has taken the Banks’ and Button, she can have her family back. Diamond Tiara realizes that Applebloom has actually gone crazy and tries to stop her. Sweetie Belle breaks up the fight but it is too late; the conflict has drawn Grogar. He comes down the chimney and Applebloom boldly proposes the trade. Grogar speaks, declaring that her heart is now as cold as his is. He blows an icy wind that freezes her and changes her into a Windigo. That taken care of, he advances on the remaining ponies. Diamond Tiara tells the others she’s sorry and goes to Grogar willingly. She says that she finally understands Applejack’s sacrifice and embraces the ram, wishing him a Happy Hearth’s Warming. The warmth of her love and her willingness to sacrifice herself burns Grogar and he once again flees before he can be fully defeated. The remaining ponies see him flying away on a sleigh drawn by Windigos. Sweetie Belle and the twins step outside to find that Trottingham, like Ponyville, has been frozen.
The next day, the twins are found by investigators from Canterlot. Sweetie Belle has frozen to death, having used her magic to keep the twins warm through the night. Celestia hears the report and afterwards discusses the situation with Luna. Luna suggests going and sealing Grogar up once again, but Celestia reveals that she already went to find Tambelon and that the great bell has been cracked by a magic spell. She says that she sees now that nothing can stop the spread of Grogar. He is like a virus and “belief gives him teeth.” Once somepony knows about him, all they have to do is doubt the magic of friendship on Hearth’s Warming and he is called. It will take time, but eventually all of Equestria will become as Ponyville and Trottingham are; a frozen wasteland.
All because a foolish unicorn rang a bell.
“Because of you Snowfall Frost, the future is a cold nightmare...”
